Vancouver, BC, Yale Hotel

Vancouver, BC, Yale Hotel was originally named the Colonial Hotel when it opened in 1889 but has been the Yale Hotel since 1907. The Yale was built to house and entertain the workers at the nearby CPR rail yards. The original Granville Bridge was completed the same year that the Colonial Hotel was opened. In 1909 the second Granville Bridge was completed. So Granville and the Yale Hotel grew together. Granville is another focal point with this painting which I will cover in a different post.

At this time there was little else in this area. Gastown was the centre of early Vancouver’s downtown. Tracking the changes in the Yale can give interesting insight into development patterns in this part of town as the Yale has a curious tie to one of Vancouver’s evolving landmark structures, the Granville Bridge. The original bridge was completed the same year the Colonial opened, the second Granville Bridge was completed only 2 years after the Colonial became the Yale, and its most recent renovation coincides with seismic upgrades taking place on the current Granville Bridge. As this part of Granville grows, the Yale continues to grow with it. The Colonial was a three-storey wooden structure with a top-floor dedicated hotel and a basement used as stables.